Terror, heroism fill high school hallways

Firecrackers, some thought. Then screams echoed through hallways. Students fell one by one.

On Monday, a teen-ager at Santana High School went into a boys bathroom and pulled out a revolver. In the six terrifying minutes that followed, he moved back and forth between the bathroom and a quad, firing as he went, retreating only to reload.

When the popping stopped, he had squeezed off more than 30 shots, killing two students and wounding 13 other people.

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It was 9:21 a.m.  a warm, sunny Monday at this suburban San Diego County high school. Students were milling around the halls and a courtyard, enjoying the last few minutes of their break between classes. The boys bathroom nea fdhudents.

Richard Geske, a 15-year-old sophomore, was in one of two stalls when he heard the first shots fired from an eight-round .22-caliber revolver.

"It sounded like firecrackers," he said.

Students shouted and scrambled to get out. Student teacher Tim Estes, 33, was shot in the abdomen as he left.

Geske opened the stall door and saw two people  Bryan Zuckor, 14, and Scott Marshall, 16  on the ground. Geske ran out of the bathroom past the shooter, identified later by police as 15-year-old Charles Andrew "Andy" Williams.

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At 9:22 a.m., campus security guard Peter Ruiz was in the courtyard when he heard the shooting and saw students fleeing. Ruiz ran to the bathroom, opened the door and saw the two boys on the ground. The shooter was reloading.

Marshall told Ruiz to get out. Zuckor, shot in the back of the head, never moved. He would later be pronounced dead where he fell.

"Get back! Out of the way!" Ruiz yelled at students in the hallway and courtyard.

As he turned his attention from the bathroom to the hallway, the shooter fired. Ruiz felt the bullet hit his back and dropped to the ground.

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James Jackson, 19, was walking past the bathroom on his way to class when the shooter opened the door. Seeing Estes on the ground, Jackson ran for cover into the girls bathroom. He was shot in the leg.

Down the hall, 16-year-old Karla Leyva and 15-year-old Melissa McNulty were already running for safety when the shooter fired in their direction. Leyva was hit in the hand, McNulty in the arm.

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Barry Gibson, 18, was just hanging out when he heard the gunfire. He ran down the hallway away from the noise. Then the shooting stopped and he looked back to see his friend Travis Tate-Gallegos, 18, lying on the ground, bleeding from the mouth.

Gibson went back to help. He was trying to pull his friend to safety when the firing started again. Gibson was hit in the leg. He crawled for cover between lockers and a doorway.

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A few feet away, 18-year-old Randy Gordon, a cross-country runner, was hit in the chest. He staggered more than 30 feet before collapsing in the hallway between two rows of lockers.

The shooter was still firing, so Gordon pulled himself around the corner of a building, then collapsed again. He would later be pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital.

The shooting stopped again and the shooter disappeared into the bathroom again.

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Students were running for their lives, pouring out of the school's front and side entrances when Robert Clark arrived at 9:24 a.m. to enroll his daughter in school. Shots were being fired, students told the off-duty police officer.

Clark  in civilian clothes but carrying his gun and badge  headed for the bathroom where the shooter was holed up. As Clark reached the courtyard, he saw Ruiz leaning against a food cart. Wounded students lay on the ground nearby.

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San Diego County sheriff's Deputy Ali Perez and four partners rushed out of their cars and into the school, responding to a call about gunfire. Clark spotted Perez and flashed his badge.

Perez's partners reached the bathroom first. Guns drawn, they ordered the teen-ager to put the gun down. It was loaded and cocked.

As Perez entered the bathroom, he saw the shooter kneeling, holding the gun by the butt. The boy dropped the gun, then followed Clark's order to lie flat on the ground. Officers dragged him out of the restroom and handcuffed him. It was 9:28 a.m.

As the officers looked for other gunmen, the teen told Clark: "It's only me."